Winter 2019 Newsletter

Join Us to Welcome Chris Armstrong & More

Thank you to the many people around the world who submitted heartfelt poems and art pieces for our first Hope and Heart Unite for ME/CFS Poetry and Art Slam. Please take a few minutes over the next few weeks to read and view these inspiring pieces, and vote for your favorite. Voting will be open until March 1. Click here to view all submissions.

This year I am looking forward to sharing with you important progress of our ME/CFS research through the addition of our funded activities at Harvard, our enhanced funding of research at the Stanford Collaborative research center and funding of other research as well. With you in our hearts, we are focused on accelerating the pace to find answers.

Currently, we are delivering hope in over 100 countries around the globe. You can help us expand our network to deliver hope and build awareness of ME/CFS by inviting your family, friends, and social media contacts to subscribe to receive OMF news in their in boxes too.

Thank you for being a part of the OMF family. We are all in this together for a cure.

With hope for all,

Linda Tannenbaum
Founder & CEO/President

Christopher Armstrong, PhD, Joins Our OMF Team

You may have already heard our exciting news that Chris Armstrong has moved to the United States and has been working with our OMF team as our Science Liaison. Chris is most well known for his research using metabolomics to observe biochemical alterations in ME/CFS patients. He began his work in the field at the University of Melbourne, beginning a PhD project to apply metabolomics to study ME/CFS and published the first ME/CFS metabolomics study on blood and urine in 2015. We are thrilled to have Chris working with us.

$1,700,000 Raised End-of-Year Thanks to Donor Challenges

We are tremendously grateful to the Brill family, who in honor of their grandson who suffers from ME/CFS, generously donated $600,000 at the end of the year towards matching gifts that successfully brought in a total of $1,700,000 with their inspiring matching donor challenges.

What inspired their donation, said Mr. Brill was that “The sooner Dr. Davis has meaningful funding, the sooner he will be able to achieve a cure for ME/CFS.” One of the matching donors shared, “We are making this contribution in hopes that new research will lead to help our nephew and all those suffering from this debilitating and much underfunded illness.”

We thank the very generous Brill Family and our tremendous matching donors for recognizing the importance of encouraging others to join the OMF movement to end ME/CFS.

ME/CFS Advocates and Researchers Take on DC

OMF will be joining MEAction and Solve ME/CFS Initiative for their Lobby Day on the Hill. Our community will unite and stand together as one on April 3 as we and many volunteers visit members of Congress. Come out and join us!

International Research Symposium on ME/CFS in Australia

We want to thank Emerge Australia for hosting an important international research symposium on ME/CFS, supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health. We are honored that several members of our scientific team, including our Scientific Advisory Board Director, Ronald W. Davis, PhD, Scientific Advisory Board members Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, and Wenzhong Xiao, PhD, and our Science Liaison Christopher Armstrong, PhD, will be presenting at the upcoming ME/CFS International Research Symposium in Victoria, Australia March 12 – 15. Our team is thrilled to expand collaborations around the globe as part of this conference. Read more details about the program here.

Worldwide Tour Expands to Denmark

OMF’s Worldwide Tour will continue this summer. Linda Tannenbaum will be speaking in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 2 immediately following the Invest in ME Research International ME Conference and Community Day in London. We want to thank ME Foreningen (ME Association, Denmark) for planning and hosting this event.

Second Annual May Momentum

With May being the month of awareness, our May Momentum activities provide opportunities to grow awareness, momentum, and support. Keep an eye on your inbox for news and ways to get involved.

You can now receive a tax deduction for your donation made to OMF in the US from both the UK and Germany; Learn how atWays To Get Involved (minimums apply). Help us identify additional partners in other countries to expand our international support. Contact us.